Four Oscar contenders and one wicker man: indie cinemas' October lineup spans continents

The second half of October brings four films in contention for Best International Feature at the 2027 Academy Awards to Ottawa's independent cinemas—each one a window into a different filmmaking tradition and a different kind of moral complexity.

Romania's "Fjord", which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, opens the lineup at ByTowne Cinema. Director Cristian Mungiu follows Norwegian Lisbet (Renate Reinsve) and her Romanian husband Mihai (Sebastian Stan) as they move with five children to a remote Norwegian coastal town. Their fundamentalist Christian practices collide with the town's secular, liberal values. Mungiu offers viewers no easy answers about right and wrong, no cathartic resolution—a choice that has divided critics. Barry Hertz at the Globe and Mail called it "riveting" and "an epic-length nail-biter that is so satisfying precisely because of its knottiness." ByTowne Cinema is located on Rideau Street at Nelson.

South Korea's "Possible Love", screening at Mayfair Cinema, comes from director Lee Chang-dong. It traces two couples from different social classes—a laid-off worker and spouse, a documentary maker and spouse—whose lives intersect during the filming of a documentary. The film explores class, desire, and freedom with a subtlety most films avoid. New York Magazine (Vulture) called it "one for the ages," and it carries a Metacritic universal acclaim rating of 93.

Poland's "Fatherland", at ByTowne, reunites director Pawel Pawlikowski (Academy Award winner for "Ida" and "Cold War") with actor Sandra Hüller ("The Zone of Interest", "Toni Erdmann"). The film centres the relationship between Nobel Prize-winning writer Thomas Mann (Hanns Zischler) and his daughter Erika (Hüller), an actress, writer, and rally driver. The setting is summer 1949, a ruined Germany during the Cold War, as Mann returns from 16 years of American exile to a divided fatherland and fractured family. Metacritic rates it 89—universal acclaim.

For something lighter, ByTowne also screens "Wicker", an English seaside period piece where a ridiculed fisherwoman (Olivia Colman) asks a basket-maker (Peter Dinklage) to craft her a husband. The result—a stalwart wicker man (Alexander Skarsgård)—delights her but sparks outrage in her neighbours. The New York Post observed: "Only an actress as caution-to-the-wind as Colman could connect so profoundly with a patio chair."

The lineup also includes repertory horror screenings drawn from cinema's vault.